For this article, I’ve only included one funny notice. Just click the picture to get a better view.

There are several of these notices on Caledonian Road. Why, I don’t know, because as the pix shows no one heeds them. Up to £50,000 fine it states, surely that’s a joke too – and that’s the trouble.

Why does the Council (and Government in general) create these threats to tackle bad behaviour – and threats they are becasue in spite of all the warnings, no one prosecutes. Surley instead of constantly going after illegal parkers there is a lot more money to be made (if £50,000 fines are really possible), by going after JUST THE FOLKS THAT DUMP STUFF ON THE CALEDONIAN ROAD!

I’m sure you all get my drift. Work the laws we have and well see progress. Constantly complain that we don’t have enough laws…and nothing will ever get done.

3 Responses to No Dumping, and other funny Council Notices

you’ve hit on a very neat point here. in Lewisham they equip council staff who are mobile, including parking attendents with camera phones so that they can take pictures of street problems and send them in to the council where they get posted on this website

given that islington parking attendents are not the most popular, and indeed have had to be told to back off a bit in issuing tickets, why can’t we try that here. essentially, parking attendents are uniformed council staff who patrol the streets every day. why not put them to a wider set of more popular uses?

I couldn’t agree more. If local authorities, central and regional Gocvernment concentrated on enforcing the legislation we already have the world maybe a better place. The more unenforced legislation we have the more it becomes reasonable to assume it’s ok to ignore, custom and practice tend to be greater influencers on behaviour after all….

I have often thought that “No dumping” sings are subtly interpreted by miscreants as meaning “This spot gets lots of dumping, so if you’re going to dump, it might as well be here because it’ll probably get cleared away faster.”

The main problem is that Islington’s cleansing contractors have a fairly inflexible contract so they routinely clear just what the contract requires them to clear. However, there are some individualised solutions that work e.g. the problem on Kember Street has been sorted by stationing a Euro-style bin outside the Primrose residence and making sure it’s emptied at least 3 times a week.

I also agree that, if only traffic wardens had a wider “environmental compliance” role, life would be much easier. Sadly, Islington Council does not actually employ the wardens. The Council has a contract with a parking control firm and this specifies only vehicle related matters. The Opposition Group’s 2006 manifesto pledged to change this function and, as we’re only a whisker away from turfing the administration out, I hope we get the opportunity quite soon to implement this – either by changing the role of traffic wardens or by introducing neighbourhood wardens who would have a safety and environment role.